Sunday, 24 April 2011

This dish was born out multi buy offer at Sainsbury’s. Sausages were on offer and one pack had been demolished at the previous nights BBQ.

I seem to recall a Jamie recipe similar to this, which gave me the inspiration to make it.

The Sausages and porcini mushrooms deliver little nuggets of meaty goodness. You could easily use Tagliatelle with this but I preferred the larger Pappardelle as it seems to make the dish more filling, the wine gives just the right amount of acidity

Serves 5

Six Pork Sausages

Handful of Dried Porcini Mushrooms

Two sprigs of Thyme, stalks removed and finely chopped

500g Bag of Pappardelle

1 Shallot finely chopped

2 Cloves of Garlic Finely Chopped

Glug of dry white wine

Tablespoon of Olive Oil
50ml Double Cream

Put the mushrooms in a bowl and cover with boiling water and leave for 20 mins.

Remove the Skin from the sausages and pinch off bite size pieces

Add the oil to large frying pan and gently fry the onion and garlic for a couple of mins

Add the sausages pieces to the pan and gently fry until brown

Meanwhile squeeze the water from the mushrooms but reserve the soaking water .

In a separate pan heat a knob of butter and gently fry the mushrooms, then add them to the pan with the sausages.

Next add the glug of wine, the Thyme and cook on a high heat for a min or two.

Add a couple of ladles of the mushroom water, be careful not to use the grit at the bottom of the bowl.

Reduce the heat and simmer for 15 mins, top up with any remaining mushroom water if required.

Meanwhile heat a large pan of water to boiling point, add a good amount of salt. Then cook the Pappardelle to packet instructions.

Spoon a little water from the Pappardelle into the sausage pan to loosen the sauce slightly and give it a glossy look.
Stir in the cream

Thursday, 14 April 2011

I love this dish. Its spicy, fragrant, sticky, gooey and it uses a nice cheap cut of meat.

There is a fair old amount of prep involved with all the chopping and stuff. This can be made easier if you get your butcher to cube the meat for you (buy it cubed from the supermarket) and trim off some of the fat if you want it leaner.

Lisa is not so hot (ha, see what I did there) on this, as although Malaysian cooking has elements of the Thai food she likes, it also has fair amounts of Indian spicing which she’s not so keen on.

Some patience is required in getting the things to cook properly whilst resisting the temptation to whack up the heat.

The Recipe comes straight from John Torode and I only tweaked a little for my own tastes.

Ingredients

1 lemongrass stalk, roughly chopped

20g/¾oz coriander seeds

½tsp cumin seeds

½tsp turmeric powder

50g/2oz block coconut cream

1½ large onions, sliced

3 garlic cloves, chopped

3 red chillies, seeds removed, chopped (This wasn’t hot enough for me so add more or leave the seeds in if you like)

1 thumb-sized piece ginger, peeled and chopped

1 Teaspoon Chopped Galangal

1 bay leaf

750g/1lb 10oz boneless beef shin, cut into 2.5cm/1in cubes

400g/14oz canned coconut milk

250ml/8¾fl oz strong veal or beef stock, heated

Pound the lemongrass to a pulp using a pestle and mortar. Tip the lemongrass into a small bowl.

Heat the frying pan over a medium heat. Add the coriander, cumin seeds and turmeric and dry fry until fragrant. Tip the spices into a spice grinder or the pestle and mortar. Grind the spices to a powder if using a grinder, or pound in a pestle and mortar until the spices are as smooth as possible. Set aside.

In a wide pan or cast-iron wok, heat the block of coconut cream until it melts, keeping the heat low so that it does not burn. If, like me, you leave it in one block, this takes an absolute age. So if you can, break it up first. It's a bit like trying to break rock but it will save you time in the long run

Melt You Bugger Melt

Add the onions, garlic, chillies, ginger and pounded lemongrass to the pan and cook gently until the onions have softened and the mixture is fragrant.

Add the reserved ground spices and the bay leaf and fry for a few minutes more.

Add the meat and increase the heat so that it browns on all sides. Stir until the meat is completely coated with the spices - this will take a few minutes.

A few Minutes! This takes ages and trying to increase the heat to cook it quicker makes things stick to the bottom. So just be patient and it will happen.

By now wonderfully fragrant smells should start to emit from the kitchen, attracting all sorts to see what's a cooking

Ohhh........ but I like Beef Rendang

Add the coconut milk, bring to the boil, then add the hot stock.
Turn the heat up until its bubbling nicely then continue cooking for at least 1- 1½ hours, stirring occasionally until the sauce becomes thick and coats the meat well.

Serve with Rice, or follow John’s original recipe and add a salad as well
What ever you choose to serve it with, remember to add the chillies, spices etc to your taste. As for the leftovers I haven't worked out what to do with them yet.

Thursday, 7 April 2011

It's been a long old while since I last visited a Farmers Market. The previous one I went to had about 6 vendors, one of which was a greasy burger van, the rest consisted of one butcher selling mostly sausages plus smattering of cake stalls and Jam makers. As it was I wanted none of these things so I came away, only with some average pork, tomato and herb sausages.

Now I've seen, heard and read a lot recently about Farmers Markets of late and have been um-ing and ahh-ing about going. As it happens Lisa came home on Friday night and said there was one taking place on the Saturday.

Not Knowing what to expect I headed off to the wild borders of Staffordshire/Cheshire.
Was I pleasantly surprised or what?

OK, the Jam makers were still there, but no sign at all of the greasy burger van.
There were butchers of all kinds, cheese makers, biscuit makers, bread artisans , brewers, veg stalls and well, everything you could want food wise.
They even had a live band and Hog roast. Incidentally why is it whenever people gather in numbers of greater than 20 does someone decide to roast a whole pig.

Rode hall itself is a lovely place and well worth a wander around once you've stocked up on essentials.

I got there about 10:30 and it was packed so I'd advise getting there early

One stall of particular interest was a lady selling all kinds of mushrooms, some of which I'd never even seen before.
Her advise was simply fry with butter and Garlic.

Being me I added a shallot and some pasta water from the tagliatelle I was cooking, plus a good handful of chopped parley.

Lisa had her's on country bread toast and I had mine with the aforementioned tagliatelle plus dash of truffle oil, olive oil and Parmesan cheese. The taste was amazing, each mushroom lending its own unique taste to overall dish.

I also managed to get some very good Cray Fish tails with which I made the previously blogged Cray Fish Salad and my favourite cheese of the moment "Snowdonia Black Bomber Cheddar" and some blue cheese for Lisa.

Plus for the first time got some Rose Veal, which I cooked on the hob for a couple of hours in milk. If I'm honest it was good but I will cook it differently next time

A Life Most Tasty

If you're reading this, the chances are you are alive, so well done you on your magnificent existence!

I would also like to wager, that a large part of the reason you’re here, is the fact that almost every single day of your life so far, you partake in an activity that is vital to your well being.

Eating is one of the most important of your daily functions, it not only gives you the energy to get through the day, its the source of all kinds of nutrients and it provides the building blocks of life.

Essentially we all have to eat to live and we do this two, maybe three times a day.

So, my theory is, why not make this most vital of daily processes an enjoyable one!

You may think cooking is not for you or that you don’t really have the skills to create your own dishes or play with flavours to dazzle the taste buds

Well actually you’d be surprised; most of us at some point in our lives have developed a dish to our liking

Think of a bacon sandwich, do you have butter on your bread, add brown or red sauce? On your chips do you put vinegar, ketchup or mayo? Each time you do something like this you’re taking the food presented to you and adapting it to your own tastes. This is essentially what cooking should be; taking ingredients and then adding what you like, because you’re the one eating it.

Despite what your parents told you it’s good to play with your food. My advice is to have a go at a new recipe and once you think you’ve got the hang of it, change it. Add more spice, add less garlic, increase the sauce or introduce a completely new ingredient.

I could prattle on endlessly about the various health benefits of making your own food and not eating takeaways or microwave meals but I won’t. There are plenty of other, far more well qualified people already doing that